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International Expositions: 



THEIR 



Objects, Purposes, Organization, ana Results. 



AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



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William P. Blake, 

COMMISSIONER ALTERNATE, CONNECTICUT. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

E. C. MARKLEY & SON, PRINTERS, 422 LIBRARY STREET 

1872. 



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[nternational Expositions 



THEIE 



Objects, Purposes, Orpization, ana Results. 



AJST ADDKESS 



DELIVERED BEFOEE THE 



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enteral 



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William P. Blake, 

COMMISSIONER ALTERNATE, CONNECTICUT. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

E. C. MARKLEY & SON, PRINTERS, 422 LIBRARY STREET 
1872. 



GREAT INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITIONS. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Commission : 

You have requested me to address you upon the objects and 
purposes, plan of organization, general success and defects of the 
World's Fair in New York in 1853, and of the Paris Universal 
Exposition in 1867.* 

The objects and purposes of the two exhibitions named were 
very different, though both contributed to the same result — the 
advancement and diffusion of knowledge, the promotion of the 
interests of mankind in all that relates to their material well- 
being and to their intellectual and moral condition. The great 
and immediate functions of exhibitions are to stimulate and 
educate. They act, not only upon the industrial classes, but 
upon all classes of men. They increase as well as diffuse knowl- 
edge. By bringing together and comparing the results of human 
effort, new germs of thought are planted, new ideas are awak- 
ened, and new inventions are born. They mark eras in indus- 
trial art, and give opportunities to compare the relative progress 
of nations. In their full scope and meaning they are by no 
means confined to the exhibition of natural and manufactured 
products, machines, and processes; but they include all that 
illustrates the relations of men to each other and to the world 
in which we live, all products of human thought and activity 
in all the arts and all the sciences. 

Exhibitions have not always been instituted with such a 
breadth and scope. In many cases the hope of pecuniary profit 
has brought them forth. The grand financial success of the 
London Exhibition of 1851 aroused the attention of the specu- 
lative and enterprising in various capitals. Exhibitions were 

*At the request of some of the members of the Commission, I have added 
short notices of other international displays, believing it to be desirable to 
have as many facts as possible, bearing upon the organization and results of 
expositions, brought together for convenience of comparison and reference. — 

w. P. B. 



immediately proposed in Dublin, in France, and in the United 
States. The expectation of gain may be said to have been the 
origin of the 

New Yoke: World's Fair of 1853. 

It was started by a 'New York joint stock company, and the 
prospective dividends were " discounted " in the height of the 
excitement, leaving, in most cases, the burden of loss to be 
borne by second and third hands, not by the original projectors. 
There were some exceptions. The objects were rather to secure 
a grand show, and to achieve a financial success, than to advance 
the higher interests of mankind. 

There was, however, an expression of a desire to make a 
more just and equally sustained exposition of our resources, 
industry, and arts, than had recently been made at the London 
Exhibition, and further, to give the masses in America an 
opportunity to see and compare the manifold productions and 
applications of the arts of design from abroad. Any desire to 
reproduce or imitate the London Exhibition was disavowed ; 
but the great aim was said to be "to draw forth such a repre- 
sentation of the world's industry and resources as would enable 
us to measure the strength and value of our own, while it indi- 
cated new aims for our enterprise and skill." 

New York was selected as the locality, for its advantages as 
a commercial centre, and as the chief entrepot of European 
goods. A lease of Reservoir Square was obtained from the 
City, and in March, 1852, the Legislature of New York granted 
a charter, under which the " Association for the Exhibition of the 
Industry of all Nations " was organized and carried forward.* 
The influence of the Greneral Government was extended on 
behalf of the Association, and the co-operation of European 
nations was solicited. The building was made a bonded ware- 
house, so that goods might be received and exhibited free of 
duty. Agents were sent abroad to secure desirable objects for 
exhibition, and to solicit the encouragement and support of 
foreign governments. 

But the organization of an International Exhibition was a new 
undertaking in the United States. We lacked experience, and 

*By the terms of the Act, the issue of stock was limited to three hundred 
thousand dollars ; but it was afterwards amended so as to permit an issue to 
the amount of half a million dollars. A call for subscriptions to the stock re- 
sulted in about one hundred and fifty persons and firms taking the first two 
hundred thousand dollars within a short time. The par value of the shares 
was $100, and they sold at one time for $175. 



did not begin in time for such a great work. The breadth and 
the detail of the work essential to great exhibitions were not 
appreciated, nor were they sufficiently provided for at the outset. 
The general plan was not perfected sufficiently long before the 
time fixed for opening. The building was not completed in 
time. The installation was delayed, and disappointment and 
confusion resulted. The administrative and executive force 
was found to be insufficient as the work of preparation pro- 
gressed, and aid was eagerly sought in various directions. At 
the eleventh hour the executive control was given to two emi- 
nent naval officers. 

No sufficient provision was made in advance for the distribu- 
tion of the labor of collecting and securing objects, products, 
and information. The formation of local committees in various 
parts of the country was too long neglected,* and as the time 
approached for the opening, the proper material to form an ex- 
hibition was not forthcoming. The results were partial and 
unsatisfactory. It did not become a truly national exhibition. 

In the mineral department, for example, it was found that 
although we might print circulars and applications in blank by 
thousands, and spread them broadcast through the mails, reach- 
ing the mining districts and metallurgical establishments, the 
responses were few and scanty. The producers of raw ma- 
terials have no special pecuniary inducement to exhibit. It is 
rare that they appreciate their duty to the industrial arts and 
to the public in great exhibitions. It was, therefore, necessary 
in the case of the New York Exhibition, as it is in all exhibi- 
tions, to make special and direct efforts by competent persons, 
in order to secure a proper representation of the raw unmanu- 
factured products of the country. 

UNMANUFACTURED PRODUCTS. 

In the Paris Exposition the display of raw and unmanu- 
factured products was superb, and was so chiefly because the 
production of these raw materials, which underlie the industrial 
development of a nation, is under the special care and patronage 

*The President of the Association, Mr. Theodore Sedgwick, under date of 
10th November, 1852, announced the resolution to raise local committees in 
the principal manufacturing"and commercial centres of the United States. Such 
committees were formed in Boston, Connecticut, St. Louis, New Orleans, Balti- 
more, in Pennsylvania and in Ohio. Special committees were organized in Phil- 
adelphia and other cities, for the purpose of gathering together a proper col- 
lection of the ores and minerals of their respective sections, and this work was 
in part paid for by the Exhibition Association. 



6 

of the governments. Through the well-organized Departments 
of Agriculture, of Mining, and of Forestry, in France, Belgium, 
Prussia, Austria, and other countries, very complete and effective 
displays were secured outside of the special contributions of 
great establishments. And here allow me to say that we may 
rightfully expect much from the intelligent co-operation of our 
own Department of Agriculture, and from State Agricultural 
Societies. But our mines receive little special care or patronage 
from the government. The magnificent mineral domain of the 
United States is left to take care of itself. So of our forests. 
In these important departments, of which, in a young country 
like ours, other nations expect of right to see a very prominent 
display, we were deficient in 1853, and without care will be so 
again. 

The ownership of the New York Crystal Palace, by virtue 
of the transfer of the scrip, soon changed hands, and the direc- 
tory was changed. One result of this was, that pledges 
made in good faith by the first promoters could not in all cases 
be redeemed. Many exhibitors suffered by loss and damage, 
and finally the structure was destroyed by fire. The combusti- 
ble nature of the interior was one of the great defects of the 
construction. 

Although built chiefly of iron and glass, the floors, the 
ground floor and those of the galleries were of wood, and so 
also were the roofs, even to the dome. These roofs were of 
matched deal, covered with tin sheathing, except where pierced 
for light. Even the rafters were made of strips of wood between 
plates of iron. The frame work was a system of iron columns 
and girders. The general plan of the building was in the shape 
of a Greek cross with a large dome in the centre, but by build- 
ing a one-story lean-to in each angle of the cross, the plan upon 
the ground became octagonal, with two broad aisles or avenues 
crossing at right angles. The extent and shape of the ground 
at the disposal of the Association did not permit of using a 
rectangular building. The lot was only four hundred and 
forty-five feet by four hundred and fifty-five feet square. The 
length of each diameter of the cross was three hundred and 
sixty-five feet five inches, and the width of the arms one hun- 
dred and forty-nine feet five inches. The dome was the chief 
architectural feature of the building. It was one hundred feet 
in diameter, and its height to the springing line nearly seventy 
;eet, and to the crown of the arch one hundred and twenty-three 
feet. The interior of this dome was beautifully decorated with 
arabesques of white and blue, and by thirty-two stained glass 



44 


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59 


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67 


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69 


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9 



windows between the ribs. Gas and water were supplied to 
every part of the structure, the latter being distributed with 
reference to use in case of fire. Over eighteen hundred tons of 
iron were required for the building, three hundred of which 
were wrought iron, and the remainder cast iron. Of glass, 
there were fifteen thousand panes, or fifty-five thousand square 
feet ; and of wood, seven hundred and fifty thousand feet, board 
measure. The total area or floor space was about two hundred 
and fifty thousand feet, or five and three-fourths acres.* 

* In view of the importance of details of construction with reference to a 
plan for the huilding of 1876, I add the following: 

PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS OF THE NEW YORK BUILDING. 

From the principal floor to the gallery floor, - _ - - 24 ft. 

" to the top of second tier of girders, 

" to the top of third tier of girders, 

" to ridge of nave, 

" to top of hed-plate, 

" to top of upper ring of dome, 

From Sixth Avenue curb-stone to top of lantern, 

" " " " to top of tower, 

Area of first floor, 157,195 square feet. 

Area of second floor, 92,496 square feet. 

249,692 square feet, or, 5| acres. 

There were in addition to the main building three entrance halls, each twen- 
ty-seven feet wide, and approached by flights of steps The columns support- 
ing the galleries divided the interior into two principal avenues or naves, each 
forty-one feet five inches wide, with aisles fifty-four feet wide. These aisles 
were still further divided by the rows of columns at right angles into square 
and half square spaces, measuring twenty-seven feet on a side. There were 
one hundred and ninety cast iron columns on the first floor, octagonal, eight 
inches in diameter, and twenty-one feet high. The second story had one hun- 
dred and forty-eight columns, seventeen feet seven inches high, rising above 
the others. These columns were connected by wrought and cast girders, the 
first forty feet nine inches long ; the second twenty-six feet four inches. Of 
these girders, which served to support the floors of the galleries as well as to 
brace and strengthen the building, there were two hundred and fifty -two and 
one hundred and sixty on the upper columns under the roof. The dome was 
supported by twenty-four columns rising to a height of sixty -two feet above 
the principal floor, and surmounted by a cast-iron bed-plate, to which the cast- 
iron shoes for the ribs of the dome were bolted. These ribs were thirty-two in 
number, and made of two curves of double angle-iron, connected together by 
lattice work. These ribs were secured at the top by a horizontal ring of 
wrought and cast-iron, twenty feet in diameter, above which rose the lantern. 

The glass for this palace was one-eighth of an inch thick, and was enamelled 
so as to keep out the direct rays of the sun, and prevent the great heat and 
glare which results in this climate when ordinary glass is used. This glass was 
made at the Jackson Glass Works, in New York, and was enamelled at Camp- 
town, New Jersey. 

In order to secure uniformity in the castings, a pattern shop was established 
in New York, and the patterns were supplied to the several establishments 
contracting for the manufacture of castings. 

The cost of the building was about $200,000, being about eighty cents per 
square foot of floor space, including galleries. 



8 

At each angle of the building there was an octagonal tower 
seventy-six feet high and eight feet in diameter. Twelve broad 
staircases connected the main floor with the gallery. It soon 
became evident that more space would be required than was 
afforded in the building, and an addition was made upon one 
side, in the form of a rectangular gallery, between the principal 
building and the reservoir. This addition was four hundred 
and fifty-one feet long and seventy-five feet wide. It was de- 
signed for the machinery in motion, the mineral department, 
and the refreshment saloons. 

In October, 1852, the mason work was completed, the greater 
portion of the iron work was contracted for, and a large part 
of the castings were delivered upon the ground. On the 30th 
of October the ceremony of raising the first column took place. 
It was then confidently expected that the official opening of the 
exhibition would take place at the specified time, May 2, but 
it was delayed until July 14, 1853. 

Among the designs submitted for the building was one by 
Sir Joseph Paxton, and presented by him to the association. 
The ground plan was a parallelogram, six hundred and fifty- 
three feet long and two hundred feet wide, covering, with an 
outer terrace, about three acres. Another plan proposed an 
amphitheatre, one thousand two hundred feet in circumference, 
constructed of iron and glass, the patterns being such that the 
parts, when taken down, could be used again in building ware- 
houses. The lamented Downing also presented a design for a 
colossal dome, to be built chiefly of wood and canvass, in such 
a manner as to combine lightness with strength. Another plan 
contemplated a great octagonal dome, supported by ribs made 
of bundles of gas pipes, and still another plan proposed a build- 
ing with a suspension roof. 

The Dublin Exhibition. 

At the International Exhibition held in Dublin in the same 
year, 1853, the building was a series of parallel halls, costing 
£80,000. The number of season tickets sold was 366,745; of 
daily visitors, 634,523 ; and the receipts were £47,363. Ten 
thousand persons were present at the opening, May 12. 

The Gteeat Exhibition of all Nations, in 1851. 

This, the most successful of all the great exhibitions, and 
which, as already stated, stimulated similar enterprises in vari- 
ous places, and particularly the New York Exhibition, was 



located in Hyde Park upon about twenty acres of ground, 
originally selected for the purpose by Prince Albert. The build- 
ing, of glass and iron, was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, 
modified somewhat by the celebrated engineers Stephenson and 
Brunei. The ground plan was a parallelogram with an arched 
transept across the centre. The total superficial area was 
originally fixed at 800,000 square feet, but it was afterwards 
increased to 1,000,000 square feet, or more than twenty acres 
of ground. It was assumed that of this space Great Britain 
would occupy one-half, and foreign nations the other half. 

The total number of exhibitors was between 15,000 and 
16,000. The payments on account of the buildings and fittings 
were £170,000, and, taking the net superficial area covered at 
1,000,000 square feet, the cost per square foot was about 3s. 5d. 
The cost of the exhibition, including the maintenance, superin- 
tendence, medals, and legal expenses, was, the building included, 
about £292,795. The contract for the building did not, how- 
ever, include more than its use for the time specified. It re- 
mained, at the close of the exhibition, the property of the con- 
tractors, otherwise the cost to the exhibition commission would 
have been £100,000 greater. 

This exhibition was opened to the public on the first day of 
May, and was closed in the succeeding October, having been 
open for one hundred and forty-one days. The building was 
closed in the evenings, visitors being admitted during the day 
only. The total number of visitors for the whole period of the 
exhibition was 6,039,195. During the one hundred and forty- 
one days 773,766 entered with season tickets. The gross re- 
ceipts from all sources were £506,100. The actual number of 
jurors was 318,167 British, and 157 foreign, and they were 
assisted by 100 associate jurors. The total number of awards 
or prizes was 5,248. 

The Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855. 

This exhibition was projected and mainly executed by a 
commercial company organized in Paris, but it was managed 
and its financial success guaranteed by the French government. 
There were many separate buildings, but the principal one was 
a permanent structure on the main avenue of the Champ 
Elyse'es, and generally known as the Palais de l'lndustrie. An 
annexe, four thousand feet long, on the bank of the river Seine, 
was mainly devoted to the exhibition of machinery. A third 
building, at some distance from the others, was used for the 



10 

fine art department. Another building, known as the Panorama 
Rotunda, was used for the display of the crown jewels of France, 
for tapestries, carpets, etc. 

The total horizontal space occupied by all of the countries 
exhibiting in the industrial departments, including the passage 
ways and public rooms, was 152,052 square metres, or about 
1,770,000 square feet. About 2,000 square metres were covered, 
in the fine arts division. 

The total number of exhibitors is stated at 23,954, of which 
21,779 were in the twenty-seven industrial classes, and 2,175 
were in the three classes assigned to the fine arts. 

The cost of this exhibition was 11,264,520 francs =£450, 580, 
16s., about $2,253,000. But this sum does, not include the 
cost of the main edifice, the Palais de l'lndustrie, a permanent 
structure which is yet used by the government upon great oc- 
casions. If this had been included in the estimate of costs, this 
estimate would have been nearly doubled. On the basis of 
169,691 square metres of space, or 1,866,000 feet, and leaving 
out of consideration the cost of the Palais de l'lndustrie, the 
cost per square foot was nearly 7s. 3d., or about $1.80. 

At this exhibition Great Britain expended £39,259. 

This exhibition continued for two hundred days, commencing 
in May. The total number of visitors was 5,162,330, and the 
total receipts were 3,202,485 francs, or £128,099, 8s. sterling, 
about $640,496. The total number of jurors was 398, of whom 
208 were assigned to France, and 190 to foreign countries. 

International Exhibition of 1862. 

The buildings for this exhibition were erected at South Ken- 
sington, upon a portion of the estates acquired by the royal 
commission of the exhibition of 1851, out of the surplus fund 
of that exhibition, and a Parliamentary grant. 

The principal buildings covered about seventeen acres of 
ground, exclusive of two annexes covering about seven acres 
more, being in all about twenty-four acres. The shape was 
nearly rectangular, measuring about 1,200 feet from east to 
west, and 560 feet from north to south. The buildings, though 
solid and substantial in character, were afterwards removed, 
the site being required for national purposes. 

The total area of covered space was 1,291,800 square feet, of 
which 147,700 square feet were devoted to refreshment rooms, 
offices, and passage-ways. The total area roofed in was 988,000 



11 

square feet. One -half of the space was reserved for Great 
Britain, and the other half was assigned to foreign countries. 

The number of exhibitors was 28,653, including 2305 artists. 
The entire cost of the undertaking, in round numbers, was 
£460,000. The contractors were to receive £200,000 abso- 
lutely, and an additional £10,000 if the receipts reached half a 
million. A guarantee fund of £250,000 was proposed, and the 
subscriptions reached nearly £450,000. Taking the total cost 
of the exhibition buildings at £321,000, and the total covered 
space at 1,292,000, square feet, the cost per square foot was 
nearly five shillings, or $1.25. The exhibition was opened May 
1st, and closed November 15th, making a total time of 171 
days during which visitors were admitted. The number of 
visitors reached nearly 6,225,000, and the gross receipts from 
all sources were £459,631, in round numbers $2,298,155. The 
total number of jurors and associate jurors was 620, and the 
whole number of awards 13,423, of which 8141 were in the form 
of medals, and 5282 honorable mentions. No awards were 
made in the Fine Arts Department. 

Paris Universal Exposition of 1867. 

The intention of the French Government to have a Grand 
International Exhibition at Paris, in 1867, was announced as 
early as June, 1863, but the appointment of a commission, and 
the designation of the time of opening and closing, was not 
published until June, 1865. An imperial decree of that date 
placed the work under the direction of an imperial commission 
of sixty members, of which the Prince Imperial was named 
president ; the Minister of State, the Minister of Commerce 
and Public Works, the Minister of the Imperial Household, 
Vice Presidents, and M. Leplay, Councillor of State, commis- 
sioner general. 

Thus notice was given to the world four years in advance of 
the opening of the exhibition, affording, in most cases, ample 
time for preparation. Our own government was officially noti- 
fied in March, 1865, and Mr. Seward, then our Secretary of 
State, promptly pledged the co-operation of our government 
and people. 

The locality selected for the exhibition was the Champ de 
Mars, the great military parade ground, extending from the 
military school to the Seine, and from the avenue Labourdon- 
naye to the avenue Suffren, forming a rectangle of 48 hectares, 
or 119 acres. To this was annexed the island of Billancourt, 



12 

giving an additional area of 21 hectares, or 52 acres ; making 
a total of 171 acres appropriated to the exposition. 

The Champ de Mars being the property of the government, 
and free from constructions or improvements of any kind, was 
very suitable for the intended building, and withal was easy of 
access from the more thickly settled portions of the City. On 
one side flowed the Seine, and on the other a branch from the 
railway encircling the City, gave the means of rapid transit to 
and from the building. 

The ground was given up by the government on the 28th of 
September, 1865, and the first iron pillar of the building was 
raised on the 3d of April, 1866. At the end of the year the 
structure was comparatively ready for the exhibitors. 

There was much delay and backwardness, although such 
great efforts had everywhere been made to work up to the ap- 
pointed dates. The opening took place as intended, though the 
building was not by any means in order. Many of the goods 
were in the packing cases, and those that had been unpacked 
were not in all cases properly placed for exhibition, or for ex- 
amination by the international jury. In the section appropri- 
ated to the United States, the placing of the products was about 
half finished ; many of the objects intended for the exhibition 
were delayed on the road between Paris and Havre, which had 
become clogged by the rapid accumulation of freight. Very 
little of the machinery was ready for movement in any section 
of the building. The contractors for transporting, carting, for 
carpenters' work, and for decoration, were unable to finish their 
work in time, and they gave up to others, who, in their turn, 
broke down. It was impossible to make a complete catalogue. 
The deliveries in many cases did not correspond with the 
invoices, and in the haste and confusion there was no time to 
investigate or to correct errors. Considering the fact that 
the United States had at least two years' notice and opportunity 
for preparation, we are warned of what may be expected in 
1876, unless much greater and more timely efforts are made. 

The Classification. 

It should be remembered that this exhibition was four times 
as large as any which had preceded it, and that it was much 
more comprehensively organized. The classification was the 
most complete and perfect yet devised. It was the result of 
the careful study and the experience of former great interna- 
tional exhibitions, particularly those of 1851, 1855, and 1862. 



13 

It compassed the whole range of natural and artificial products, 
and gave a place to objects illustrating scientific or social prog- 
ress. The ten groups, as below, were sub-divided into ninety- 
five classes, and they together form a very complete index of 
the industries of the world. * 

Group I. — Works of art, classes 1 to 5. 

Group II. — Apparatus and application of the liberal arts, 
classes 6 to 13. 

Group III. — Furniture and other objects for the use of 
dwellings, classes 14 to 26. 

Group IV. — Clothing, including fabrics, and other objects 
worn upon the person, classes 27 to 39. 

Group V. — Products, raw and manufactured, of mining 
industry, forestry, &c, classes 40 to 46. 

Group VI. — Apparatus and process used in the common arts, 
classes 47 to 66. 

Group VII. — Food, fresh or preserved, in various states of 
preparation, classes 67 to 73. 

Group VIII. — Live stock, and specimens of agricultural 
buildings, classes 74 to 82. 

Group IX. — Live produce, and specimens of horticultural 
works, classes 83 to 88. 

Group X. was devoted to the exposition of objects and methods 
designed to ameliorate the moral and physical condition of men, 
thus bringing in educational, sanitary, and other great depart- 
ments of social effort. Under this head, for example, were found 
the school houses, school apparatus and books ; improved cheap 
dwellings for workmen ; and the exhibitions made by the Sani- 
tary Commission. Here, also, were found a series of reports, 
written and published as a part of the exposition, upon the 
progress of letters and science in France, in the twenty years 
preceding 1867. 

Plan and Akeangement of the Building. 

In previous great exhibitions, grand architectural effects 
were attempted ; the beauty of the building was considered an 
essential part of the display, and large sums were expended in 
exterior and interior decoration. This was also the case in the 
New York Crystal Palace. At Paris, in 1867, the building 
was subordinated to the grouping and the comparison of the 
various objects. There was nothing particularly attractive or 

* The classification complete, with the classes in full, will be found in the 
first volume of the Reports of the United States Commissioners. 



14 

beautiful about the construction. It commanded attention from 
the novelty of its form, its size, and its special adaptation to the 
classification, but not for its beauty. 

The leading feature of the plan was the division of the space 
into seven concentric halls or galleries, all upon one floor, and 
each one devoted to a particular group or class of objects. The 
form of the building was generally considered to be elliptical, 
but it was in fact a parallelogram with semi-circular ends. Its 
greatest length was 482 metres, 1,581 feet, and its breadth 307 
metres, 1,218 feet. The outer gallery was 1,200 metres, or 
three-fourths of a mile in length. A central space was reserved 
for a garden with fountains and statuary, and in the midst of 
this was erected a pavilion to receive the standard of the va- 
rious systems of weights and measures of the world. 

The whole space within the outer limits of the building 
measured 146,000 square metres, or 36 acres. There was no 
upper gallery or second floor, except a narrow one used as a 
promenade along the medial line of the hall devoted to the dis- 
play of engines and machinery in motion. Outside of this, and 
in all directions upon the Park, were the restaurants, offices, 
and retiring rooms. 

The exposition, as a whole, was divided into three portions ; 
the first, called the Park, comprising the palace and outside 
structures, and the exhibition along the banks of the Seine ; 
the second, called the Reserved Garden, containing the botan- 
ical, horticultural, and piscicultural collections ; the third, called 
Billancourt, the name of an island in the Seine, where the 
agricultural implements were exhibited. To facilitate the prac- 
tical trials of the latter, the Emperor gave up to the com- 
petitors all the land and crops they required. Thus the mowing 
machines were tried at the Emperor's farm at Fouilleuse, near 
St. Cloud, and the reapers at the imperial establishment at 
Vincennes. 

As three out of the ten groups — such as the agricultural 
exhibitions, live produce, &c. — could not be properly placed in 
the building, only seven galleries were required and constructed, 
and the exhibition of the other groups was made at Billancourt. 

In the construction of this building upwards of 370,000 cubic 
metres of soil had to be removed to make room for foundations, 
drains, air passages, and water pipes. The outer circle was 
excavated so as to give a succession of vaulted cellars built of 
stone and concrete, and lined with cement. The two interior 
galleries of the building were built of stone, and the seven 
others of iron. 



15 

Machinery Gallery. 

The outer circle, devoted to the engines and machinery, was 
the highest and the broadest of all. Its width was 114 feet, 
and its height, to the top of the nave, 81 feet. The roof was 
formed of corrugated iron and supported by 176 iron pillars 
(each weighing 24,000 pounds) upon which the arches or ribs 
were placed. Along the centre of the whole length of this 
great machinery gallery or arcade an elevated platform 'was 
supported upon iron columns, and afforded a safe and conve- 
nient promenade and point of view for the machinery below. 
It appeared to support the line of shafting by which motion 
was communicated to the various machines, but this shafting 
was sustained by a separate frame. 

The supply of water for this enormous structure, and for the 
park and its various buildings and fountains, was obtained from 
the Seine, and was raised by powerful steam pumps to a reser- 
voir placed upon the high ground on the opposite bank. This 
reservoir had a capacity of over 4,000 cubic yards of water, 
and was made water-tight by a lining of concrete. The main 
conduit leading from this reservoir crossed the Seine by the 
bridge of Jena, and traversed the whole length of the Champ 
de Mars. 

Both the park and the building were bisected through the 
entire length by one straight avenue leading from the grand 
entrance opposite the bridge of Jena to the front of the Military 
School at the opposite extremity of the Champ de Mars. This 
was crossed at right angles by three other broad avenues lead- 
ing to the side entrances upon the public streets. These prin- 
cipal avenues, together with several others at each end, radi- 
ating from the central garden to the outer circle, intersected 
each gallery at right angles, and divided the whole building 
into sixteen sectors of nearly equal area. 

The objects exhibited by France and its colonies occupied 
seven of these sectors : England filled two and-a-half, and the 
United States one- third of one, exclusive of the displays in the 
buildings outside. 

It will be seen that the form and arrangement of the build- 
ing, and the disposition of its contents, was in harmony with 
the classification and grouping adopted by the Imperial Com- 
mission. 

To each of the first seven groups a gallery of the building 
was assigned. Thus Group I., works of ait, occupied the inner 
circle or gallery 1, and so on to Group VII., which occupied 
the outer circle. 



16 

By following one of these galleries the observer passed in 
succession among the productions similar in kind of different 
countries. By following the avenues he passed successively 
through the different productions of the same country. The 
student, therefore, could investigate the condition of any par- 
ticular art or industry as manifested by different nations, or he 
could pursue his studies geographically, and note the character- 
istic .productions of each country, and compare them as a whole 
with those of other countries. The arrangement facilitated 
exhibition, prompted study and comparison, and in these re- 
spects fully realized the intentions of its authors. 

Gallery of History of Labor. 

After the adoption of this classification it was decided to de- 
vote a portion of the inner gallery, next to the central garden, 
to antiquities, so as to give a history of human labor. 

This, apparently an afterthought, was one of the most inter- 
esting departments of the exhibition, and to almost all persons. 
In it the birth and progress of many of the arts was distinctly 
shown. Even the pre-historic period was represented by col- 
lections of flint and bone implements from caves and from the 
lake dwellings of Switzerland. The bronze period was illus- 
trated by numerous implements and manufactures in that ma- 
terial, and so on through the great period of human history to 
the present age of steel. 

Prog-ress of Inventions. 

And here let me suggest that in our classification we should 
give a prominent place to arrexhibition of articles showing the 
gradual development of the industrial arts in the world, and 
especially to such objects as will show the development and 
progress of inventions in all departments of art and manufac- 
tures in our own country during the century. 

The Importance of the Park. 

The visitor to the exposition was at once forcibly impressed 
with the importance and extreme interest of the Park as a part 
of the exhibition. It was most tastefully laid out with avenues 
and winding paths, and was adorned with trees, shrubs, and 
flowers, all planted since the ground was first broken for the 
building, on what was previously the barren and indurated 
surface of the Champs de Mars. A few short months sufficed 



17 

to make a total change. Water was brought in artificial lakes, 
canals and streams were made ; grottoes were built, and gardens 
were planted with flowers ; constructions of all kinds arose as if 
by magic; and before the close of the exposition, examples 
were seen of the peculiar architecture of almost all the nations 
of the earth, from the tent of the wandering Arab to the gilded 
palace of Europe. These were things of beauty, a constant 
source of instruction and pleasure, giving a distinct and unique 
character to the whole exhibition as compared with others, 
and it must be a constant source of regret to those who had 
the satisfaction of seeing them, that they were all demolished 
and removed at the close of the exposition. In a favorable 
locality for an exhibition, such, for example, as Fairmount Park 
affords, there is no reason why such ornamental accessory con- 
structions should not be so located as to remain, after the close 
of the exhibition, to permanently adorn the grounds. 

The Opening. 

The exposition was duly opened according to regulation on 
the 1st of April, and closed on the 4th of November. The 
building was not kept open for visitors in the evening. Every 
afternoon, at sunset, all persons, except the guards, were ex- 
cluded, and the doors were closed. 

Cost and Receipts. 

The cost of the exposition to France did not fall far short of 
the estimate made by Beliic, the Minister of Agriculture, Com- 
merce and Public Works, after an attentive study of the ex- 
penses of previous expositions. He estimated that the expense 
would be from 18,000,000 to 20,000,000 francs, and that the 
receipts would perhaps reach from 7,000,000 to 9,000,000, 
leaving a deficiency of about 12,000,000 francs. He reported 
to the Emperor that the practical utility of expositions had 
been so clearly demonstrated, that the State and the City of 
Paris would be justified in contributing this amount. It was 
proposed, also, that if the receipts from all sources did not cover 
the balance of the costs (over and above the amount of (12,- 
000,000), the deficiency should be met by a guarantee company, 
and in case of a surplus from the receipts, this surplus, or 
profit, should be divided equally between the State, the City, 
and the guaranty company. These propositions were carried 
into effect, and it is understood that there was no loss or defi- 
2 



/ 



18 

ciency to be made good by the company, but rather a profit to 
be divided. More than 10,000,000 persons visited the exposi- 
tion, and the receipts from them and from other sources were 
probably considerably more than 10,000,000 francs. 

But this was by no means the total cost of the exposition. 
Each country bore the expense of installation and cases for its 
exhibition. The expenses of the United States Section, for ex- 
ample, exclusive of salaries, were about $90,000 in Paris and 
$50,000 in New York, the latter chiefly for packing, storing, 
and forwarding. The expenditure by Great Britain, after de- 
ducting the proceeds of sale of fittings, furniture, &c, was 
$600,000. Egypt, occupying only about one-twentieth of the 
space, expended $300,000; Prussia (exclusive of North Ger- 
many), over $150,000; Italy, over $160,000; and Austria, 
$200,000. 

Although, in the main building, the plan and decoration was 
subordinated to the classification and the exhibition of objects, 
each nation erected courts or chambers within the limits assigned 
to them, and these were in many instances highly decorated and 
ornamented. These had the effect of breaking the continuity 
of the exhibition in groups and classes, and so far were adverse 
to the results aimed at by the arrangement of similar articles 
in zones. But it had the advantages of nationalizing in a high 
degree the exhibition from each country, and of giving greater 
variety to the exhibition. 

It was found, also, that the proportion of articles in any 
group or class was very different in different countries, and 
consequently that the amount of zonal space was in some cases 
insufficient in one group, while ample in another. It resulted, 
that the superabundant articles were installed out of their 
appropriate places according to the system, and were to be 
found in various parts of the building. 

A portion of the large expenditure by Great Britain was for 
assisting deputations of British artizans to visit the exposition, 
with facilities during their stay for studying and reporting 
upon the various classes. One of the results of their visit was 
a volume of reports of high value . to those engaged in the 
special industries discussed. 

Industrial Publications. 

Among the more important results of the Paris Exposition 
is the vast amount of industrial literature to which it has given 
rise. Nearly every great nation represented there published 



ID 

reports embodying the results. Thirteen volumes were pub- 
lished by the French government, six volumes by Austria, six 
by Great Britain, and six by the United States. Over three 
hundred separate works or publications have been made, and 
in various languages, upon the whole or portions of the exhibi- 
tion. These printed results make the exposition a permanent 
one. The teachings survive the demolition of the buildings. 
The press is the right arm of such displays, carrying the use- 
ful and best results into the remote corners of the earth, inter- / 
esting and instructing artisans and others who can not leave 
their homes to see with their own eyes. 

Even our New York Exhibition was fruitful of results in 
this direction; two or more illustrated volumes, descriptive of 
improved machinery and processes, were, published for general 
circulation.* At the Paris Exposition a vast amount of indus- 
trial statistics and information was given in the catalogues 
published by each country. This was designed from the first 
to be a prominent and valuable feature of the occasion. France 
led the way, and each country was requested to contribute 
such information with its products. The programme contained 
the elements necessary to a comparison in an economical point .. 
of view of the relative force and wealth of nations. f 

In France most of the information relating to the industries 
was obtained by the Class Committees of Admission, and formed 
a fitting introduction to each class, useful to the jurors and to 
all who made a careful study of the exposition. 

The jury reports, in thirteen volumes, prepared by a great 
number of savans and specialists, under the general direction 
of M. Michel Chevalier, is a work of unusual value, and it ap- 
peared in good season at the close of the exposition. The im- 
portance of promptness in publishing the results was well 
appreciated by the British Commission. The services of many 
eminent men were early secured for the preparation of reports 
to be published during the progress of the exhibition, in the 
Illustrated London News, this medium being chosen as one 
of the best to get the information quickly and widely dissemi- 
nated among the people. The same reports were afterwards 
collected and published in volumes. J 

* "The World of Art and Industry," illustrated, 4to., pp. 208 ; G. P. Putnam 
& Co., 1854. Also, " The Illustrated Record of the Exhibition," 4to. ; G. P. 
Putnam & Co., 1854. 

f This programme in full, as translated from the letter of Commissioner Le 
Play, will be found on page 103 of the Introduction, etc., vol. I., of the Re- 
ports of the United States Commission. 

| There were eighty-seven separate reports, prepared by over seventy 
persons. 



20 

The United States Commission was authorized to employ 
scientific experts in addition to the ten professional and scien- 
tific Commissioners, but with a few exceptions the work of re- 
porting was parcelled out to Committees of the Commission, 
and, as might have been expected, the Committees did not labor 
as a unit, and the work, if performed at all, was done by indi- 
viduals. There is hardly a report in the whole series which 
is the work of a Committee. Another mistake was made in 
assigning the work at so late a day. Instead of being entered 
upon at the very beginning of the exposition, it was in most 
cases delayed until the end, and the reports, of course, were cor- 
respondingly delayed. This should be avoided in the future, 
and it should be remembered, also, that it is important to divide 
the work up as much as possible in order to secure complete- 
ness and despatch. The preparation of the catalogues required 
a vast amount of labor and expense. The French official cata- 
logue forms a volume of over 1,500 octavo pages ; the British 
catalogue, in four languages, together with the descriptive por- 
tions, makes a volume of over 1,000 pages. The exclusive right 
to publish the official catalogue was one of the many monopolies 
sold by the Imperial Commission. For this privilege the pub- 
lisher paid 503,000 francs. 

The concession of exclusive privileges was one great source 
of revenue. Large sums were paid for the exclusive privilege 
of posting bills in certain places,* for providing seats for visi- 
tors, for chairs on wheels, for exchange offices, for rent of 
refreshment saloons, etc. These monopolies, however profit- 
able they may have been, and perhaps necessary, were the 
source of much annoyance and litigation. f 

The Motive Powee. 

The Imperial Commission undertook to supply the power 
needed for the machinery gallery, by contracting for the service 
with various parties, preference being given to contractors fr"6m 
the countries to be supplied. The contractors were to provide 
the engines, boilers, boiler-houses and chimneys, with all the 
necessary steam pipes, and the shafting. But the sum, 600 

* For this privilege 50,000 francs were to be paid, and the Commission en- 
gaged to give at least 7,000 square metres of wall-space. 

f The British Commission was sued for infringing upon the rights granted to 
the publisher of the official catalogue, and also upon the advertising con- 
cession. 



21 

francs per horse power, was so low that the work could not be 
properly performed except, at a loss, and the result was that 
there were serious complaints in some of the foreign sections of 
want of steam, and the working of the machinery had to be 
arranged among the exhibitors with reference to this deficiency. 
In the United States section, no American contractor appearing 
in time, the contract was given to others. 

The boilers were in all cases placed outside of the building in 
the park, and were covered by ornamental structures, which, 
in most cases, served to exhibit some peculiar material or method 
of building. 

It is the opinion of Captain Beaumont, B. E., who reported 
to the British Commission upon the steam and motive power 
arrangements, that the French went to a needless expense in 
isolating the supports of their shafting from those of the gallery. 
It is thought that the tremor would not have been too great if 
the shafting had been attached to the gallery, but a double line 
of shafting, supported above the center of the exhibiting space 
on each side of a narrow gallery, would have been more conve- 
nient. Four such lines of shafting were placed upon unstayed 
columns, and successfully used, in the British section. Again, 
the curved form of the machinery gallery is pointed out as a 
defect. This form necessitated the use of universal joints at 
intervals, when in a straight gallery, or hall, no such expensive 
and cumbrous fittings would be required. 

Teanspoetation of Heavy Objects. 

Heavy objects reaching France by sea, such, for example, as 
ordnance and boilers, were sent up the river Seine on steamers, 
and were landed upon the banks within the limits of the expo- 
sition. The circular railway around the building was in con- 
stant use, and in the opinion of Mr. Cole, the British Commis- 
sioner, it would have been almost impossible to have opened 
the exhibition April 1st without it. Great service was also 
rendered by steam cranes in unloading goods. 

Co-OPEEATION OP GOVEENMENT DEPAETMENTS. 

The effective co-operation of the several well organized 
departments of the government of France and other countries, 
greatly facilitated the work of preparation for the exhibition, 
and promoted its success. In France, the Departments of the 
Interior of War, of the Navy, of Public Works, of Public In- 



22 

struction, of Finance, and of the House of the Emperor, all 
made extensive and costly exhibitions. In the British section, 
eight of the government departments were represented, partic- 
ularly the War Department and the Admiralty, the Treasury, 
for public printing, and the department of Science and Art. 
The collections from this department were specially interesting 
and instructive. They consisted in great part of reproductions 
in plaster or in copper, by galvanoplasty, of rare and costly 
works of art in the museums and private collections of Europe. 
The collection of such reproductions, which now form a large 
part of the art collections of the South Kensington Museum, 
may be considered to beone of the results of the exhibition of 
1855, when casts were taken of objects in the Musee d' Artil- 
lerie and the H6tel de Cluny, Paris. * Each succeeding exhi- 
bition tends to increase the educational value and efficiency of 
this great museum of reproduction's and works of art, for the 
opportunity to secure from all countries examples of great 
artistic merit is too inviting to be lost. Much is also effected 
by exchange. For example, most of the objects sent to Paris 
were exchanged for similar objects with the governments of 
France, Prussia, Russia, and Italy. 

INTERNATIONAL JURIES. 

The examination of products and making awards was com- 
mitted to international juries, numbering in all six hundred 
members. 

The number of jurors taken from each nation was in propor- 
tion to the ground occupied by each in the exhibition, and the 
general commissioner of each nation nominated the jurors 
allowed to his national section. 

The organization comprised one special jury, ninety-four 
juries of classes, ten juries of groups, and a superior council. 

The work was divided and distributed among them as 
follows : 

First. The subjects which were presented for the new order 
of recompenses, intended for persons, establishments, or locali- 
ties, which, by organization or special institutions, have 



* The art collections of the South Kensington Museum number about 13,000 
objects illustrative of the history, principles, and processes of decorative art in 
sculpture, carvings in wood and ivory, decorative furniture, metal work, gold- 
smith's work, jewelry and lapidaries' work, engraved gems, niello work, arms, 
armor, pottery, glass, enamels, ancient lac work, textile fabrics, miniatures, &c. 



23 

developed harmony among co-operators and produced in an 
eminent degree the material, moral, and intellectual well-being 
of the workmen, were submitted to a special jury of twenty-five 
members, whose decision was final. 

Second. The examination of Group No. 1, comprising the 
five classes of fine arts, was committed to four separate juries, 
whose reports were subject to revision and adjustment by a 
group jury formed by the four class juries united, numbering 
sixty-four members, whose decision was final. 

Third. The remaining ninety classes of products were sub- 
mitted to the inspection of the corresponding ninety class juries, 
whose work was subject to revision by the group juries and 
superior council. 

Each class jury elected from its own body a President, Vice 
President, and Keporter. 

The nine group juries were composed of the Presidents and 
reporters of the ninety class juries, with the addition of a Pres- 
ident and two Vice Presidents to each group jury, not taken 
from the class juries, but specially appointed by the respective 
general commissioners of the national sections to which these 
appointments were allotted. The Secretary for each group 
was appointed by the Imperial Commission. 

The superior council was formed of the Presidents and Vice 
Presidents of the nine group juries, presided over by one of 
the Vice Presidents of the Imperial Commission. 

The duties of the class juries were to examine the products 
in detail in their respective classes, and make lists of the ex- 
hibitors whose products they considered deserving of awards, 
naming the award proposed for each, and the reason of it, which 
completed their work. 

The reports on products and exhibitors thus drawn up were 
passed to the group juries, whose duty it was to revise them, 
concurring in the recommendations of the class jurors as far as 
approved, modifying the parts not approved, and sending them 
in this form to the superior council. 

The duty of the superior council was to decide upon the whole 
number of awards to be made, and the number of each grade 
of awards, for which purposes they had a limited authority to 
add to the whole number which had been recommended, and 
power to diminish the whole number called for by the juries. 



24 



THE EFFECT OF AWARDS. 

In regard to the benefits from a system of awards, Commis- 
sioner General Beckwith, from whose report the foregoing 
account of the organization of the International Jury is con- 
densed, says : 

" Experience on former occasions has, in the main, justified 
the awards of the juries, and they have served, not only to con- 
firm established reputations, but to bring into more prominent 
notice the excellent products of thousands of skilful and worthy 
producers, who labored previously in comparative obscurity, 
and whose improved fortunes date from those periods. But 
the benefits resulting from this are not limited to the successful 
exhibitors. They are naturally stimulated to renewed efforts 
to maintain their new positions, which quickens their invention, 
improves their products, and raises their own standards, whilst 
their rivals and competitors, who, if equally skilful are less 
lucky, are thereby compelled to work up to this higher level. 
A new spirit is thus breathed into every department of industry, 
and the benefits of increased production, improved qualities and 
varieties, and diminished cost become universal." 

A serious source of disappointment in the Paris Exposition, 
at least so far as the United States were concerned, was due to 
the inability or neglect of many of the local committees to whom 
certain duties were assigned. Failing adequately to perform 
those duties, at the last moment they devolved upon the ex- 
ecutive. Time was lost; work which would otherwise have 
been comparatively easy and simple was embarassed by its in- 
completeness. The feeling of responsibility diminishes with 
the distribution of the power. We were late about our con- 
tract for motive power in Paris ; late in sending on our goods 
properly invoiced and catalogued, and we did not fully work up 
to the intent and purposes of that great display. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR ORGANIZATION OF FUTURE EXHIBITIONS. 

Before leaving Paris, several of the Executive Commissioners 
united in a memorandum upon the management of future 
International Exhibitions, as follows : 

First. That as the usefulness of International Exhibitions 
does not depend on their size, but on their selectness and quality, 
so the tendency to increase the size of each succeeding exhibi- 
tion should be discouraged. 



25 

Second. That it is desirable that future exhibitions should be 
held in rotation in various capitals. 

Third. That the country inviting the exhibition to be held 
should provide, at its own risk, a suitable building, completely 
finished in all respects, provided with all conveniences for un- 
loading and loading, and supplied, perhaps, with sufficient 
glass cases. 

Fourth. That before any code of general regulations for the 
management of exhibitions be promulgated, the commissioners 
of each nation occupying a given amount of space be assembled 
to discuss them, each nation having one representative or an 
equal number of representatives, but that the country inviting 
the exhibition should have a veto on the decisions and the 
power of limiting the extent of the exhibition, and the number 
of the classes to be shown. 

Fifth. That in order to promote the comparison of objects 
the general principle of the arrangement be rather by classes 
than by nationalities. 

Sixth. That no objects be removed out of the exhibition for 
the purposes of sale, and that means be taken to prevent its 
becoming a fair or bazaar. 

Seventh. That the number of classes adopted in the present 
Paris Exhibition be greatly increased in future exhibitions. 

Eighth. That no prizes of any kind be awarded, but that 
reports on every class be made and signed by an International 
jury, which reports should be published during the exhibition, 
and as soon as possible after the opening. 

Ninth. That each country for every class in which it has 
exhibitors be free to send one reporter for each class. 

This document appears in the official report of the British 
Commission,* and is signed by Henry Cole, Executive Com- 
missioner for the United Kingdom; Schaeffer, Commissioner 
for Austria ; Herzog, Commissioner for Prussia ; De Thai, Com- 
missioner for Eussia; Chiavarina, Commissioner General for 
Italy ; Beckwith, Commissioner General for the United States. 



The Administration. 

Article second of the Imperial decree of February 1, 1865, 
placed the direction and control of the Paris Exposition in the 
hands of the Imperial Commission, and the Commissioner Gren- 
eral, named by the same decree, was charged with the execution 

* Appendix V. to Commissioner Cole's Report, Vol. I of British Reports. 



26 

of the measures adopted by the Imperial Commission. All 
foreign Commissions were invited to appoint an Executive 
Commissioner to confer directly with the Executive Commis- 
sioner at Paris. This was done by most countries. The United 
States, upon the recommendation of Mr. Bigelow, then our 
Minister at Paris, was represented by Commissioner General 
Beckwith, to whose ability we are indebted largely for our 
measure of success there. The country and the world are also 
indebted to him and to Mr. Bigelow, then our Minister at 
Paris, for clear conceptions and statements of the importance 
and value of such exhibitions to industry and to human welfare 
in the highest sense. Much may be learned by consulting 
their utterances, preserved in part in the official reports and 
records. Their wisdom and experience will be of great service 
to us. For example, in regard to International Exhibitions, 
Mr. Beckwith says : 

" If it be true that civilization was led in most countries for 
a long period by a few men of genius skilled in political science 
and literature, it is not less true that the men of physical 
science have at length come to their aid. 

" The geologists, naturalists, chemists, mineralogists, inven- 
tors, and engineers are now directing the labor of the world 
with a success never before attained. 

u As the intellectual domination of the material world in- 
creases, the hardships and barrenness of toil diminish, and its 
products multiply ; and while political science emancipates the 
enslaved races, physical science enslaves the elements and 
forces of nature and emancipates mankind. 

" In this great movement the largest benefits will fall, with 
the largest markets in the world, to those who make the best 
provision for the development and diffusion of the practical 
sciences as applied to industry. 

" No nation produces within itself all these in perfection, nor 
keeps up with the daily progress in them ; but those are most 
advanced in the race who adopt the best methods of collecting 
and disseminating the progressive knowledge resulting from 
the studies and labors of all. 

" Among the methods for this purpose, international assem- 
blies and exhibitions are increasing in numbers, in frequency, 
and in importance. 

" A knowledge of many of the useful and successful combi- 
nations of science and industrial art cannot be conveyed in 
words ; they must be studied in models and specimens, which 
display at once the combinations and effects, the modes and 
results. 



27 

"These being the products of many localities and many 
countries, bringing them together facilitates their study, and 
affords, at the same time, the opportunity of careful and accu- 
rate comparisons, without which no study is complete." 

Mr. Bigelow, in reference to the coming Centennial Cele- 
bration, has suggested the taking of an extra Federal Census, 
the establishment of a National Museum, and the preparation 
of a series of monographs, by which the progress and product 
of civilization in the United States can be shown.* 

With your permission, I will add a few facts upon the series 
of annual exhibitions in England commencing in 1871, and the 
grand international display to be made in Vienna in 1873. 



Annual Exhibitions in London. 

Apparently following the first of the suggestions prepared by 
Mr. Cole, and subscribed to by several of the executive com- 
missioners in Paris in 1867, Her Majesty's commissioners for 



*These suggestions were first published in the N. Y. Tribune, a year or more 
ago, and are as follow : 

First : The taking of an extra Federal Census for that year. 

Second: That every art should be laid under contribution for some appro- 
priate memorial of the degree of excellence to which it shall have attained, and 
with which it will begin the succeeding century. 

Third: Competent peisons should be invited to prepare monographs by 
which the progress and product of civilization in the United States could be 
measured. Such monographs should embrace as topics a statistical history 
during the past century of our postal service ; of telegraphy ; of the progress 
of art, industry, and invention ; of immigration ; of agriculture : the increase 
of land under culture, and disappearance of timber ; of mining and the devel- 
opment of mineral wealth ; of military and naval inventions, discoveries, and 
achievements; of manufactures; of education; of religious and ecclesiastical 
progress ; of the natural sciences ; of the progress of wealth and financial vicis- 
situdes of the country ; of fine arts ; of literature ; of the press ; of public 
charities ; the organization and growth of different States ; of the changes in 
municipal, State, and Federal systems ; of political economy, and of labor, free 
and servile, and wages ; of law ; of medicine ; of commerce and navigation ; of 
changes in the social condition of the people in the United States ; of the 
Aboriginees ; of the climatic revolutions and changes of the continent during 
the century. 

Fourth : It was proposed that a National Museum and Library should be 
established, to be perpetually associated with this anniversary. The edifice to 
be dedicated or its corner-stone laid on that day, and be made the repository 
of such works of art or volumes .of national interest as proved worthy of its 
hospitality ; a nucleus, in short, of a collection in which every State should 
hold herself an owner. To what extent such a collection grows under the in- 
fluence of national pride, the British Museums and those of the Vatican and 
Louvre bear witness. 



28 

the exhibition of 1851* resolved to institute a series of inter- 
national exhibitions of selected specimens of the works of fine 
art and industry, to be held annually in London, the first to be 
opened in the year 1871. These annual International Exhibi- 
tions differ materially from any previous exhibitions. They are 
comparatively limited in extent. The objects are selected by 
competent judges before they are admitted, and only a few 
classes of industrial objects are admitted each year. The 
arrangement is by classes, not by nationalities as heretofore. 
No charge is made to exhibitors for arranging and taking care 
of their objects during the exhibitions. These exhibitions are 
opened on the first day of May and are closed on the 30th of 
September. They are held in permanent buildings at South 
Kensington, adjoining the arcades of the Royal Jlorticultural 
Gardens. 

Space is not assigned to foreign nations in block, but in each 
of the classes as may be required. There are no prizes awarded, 
but a certificate of having obtained the distinction of admission 
to the exhibition is given to each exhibitor. 

The result of the first year's working of this plan has not 
been made known generally. It does not appear to have ex- 
cited much enthusiasm or attention. The plan evidently lacks 
the great elements of success for exhibitions. It is not general 
and comprehensive, arresting by its novelty and magnificent 
proportions the attention of nations, and drawing crowds from 
all countries. It may, perhaps, be more satisfactory to the 
appreciative few, but can hardly be said to act directly for the 
benefit of the mass of the people. Its tendency is to make the 
exhibitions locally rather than generally interesting. It lacks 
also the stimulating influence of direct awards upon producers. 

Vienna Exhibition of 1873. 

The proposed International Exhibition at Vienna is to be 
opened on the 1st of May and closed on the 31st of October, 
1873. The total covered space will be 103,000 square metres, 
or 43,000 square metres less than the exposition of 1867. The 
main building, on the pavilion system, will be 905 metres long 
and 205 metres wide, with a colossal iron cupola 102 metres 
in diameter and 79 metres high in the centre. 

*This Commission has continued to exist since that time, and controls the 
large property then acquired, using it for the advancement of art and science, 
chiefly by means of exhibitions. 



29 

The art collections are to be placed in a separate building, 
and the exhibition of machinery is to be made in a hall near 
the main building, and 890 metres long by 28 metres wide. 

It is proposed to so arrange the objects, machines, and repre- 
sentations of methods of manufacture, in .juxtaposition, as to 
give an illustration of the growth of some of the most import- 
ant of the industries and inventions. The influence of science 
upon the arts will also be illustrated. An effort will also be 
made to give a history of the cost of production and of the 
selling price of a large class of articles. Recent inventions will 
be subjected to experimental trials; lectures will be given upon 
late improvements and discoveries, and a congress of delegates 
from all countries is invited to meet and discuss many ques- 
tions suggested by the exhibition. 

Four classes of awards or prizes will be given. 

1. The art medal. 

2. Progress medal for decided improvements. 

3. Workmen's medal, to those who have largely contributed 
to the success of any invention. 

4. Honorable diploma for distinguished service in elevating 
the condition of workmen, or in the cause of education. 

The various articles to be exhibited will be arranged in the 
classes as below. 

1. Mines and mining. 

2. Agriculture. 

3. Chemical industry. 

4. Food. 

5. Textile and clothing industry. 

6. Leather and india rubber industry. 

7. Metal industry. 

8. Wood industry. 

9. Stone, clay, and glass industry. 

10. Hardware. 

11. Paper. 

12. Graphic arts and industrial drawings. 

13. Machines and means of transportation. 

14. Scientific instruments. 

15. Musical instruments. 

16. Military objects. 

17. Marine objects. 

18. Architecture and civil engineering. 

19. A citizen's dwelling, its interior, furniture, and arrange- 

ments. 

20. A peasant's house, with furniture. 



30 

21. Characteristic national domestic industry. 

22. Eepresentations of the value of art museums. 

23. Ecclesiastical industry. 

24. Historical antiquities exhibited by amateurs. 

25. Modern works of art. 

26. Relating to education. 

This, it will be seen, though very different from the classifi- 
cation of 1867, is yet very comprehensive and is capable of 
being greatly sub-divided.* 

In view of our intended exhibition, it is desirable that the 
organization, administration, and results of this great exhibi- 
tion at Vienna should be carefully studied and compared with 
those at Paris. Up to this time the most successful of the 
large exhibitions have been confined to London and Paris. 
Large populations are necessary to afford a large number of 
visitors. Other things being equal, it may safely be conceded 
that such enterprises are most useful and successful when 
located in or near a great industrial manufacturing centre. 
For the industrial classes are the most directly benefited by 
seeing and comparing the results of skilled labor in different 
countries and under different conditions. In this view Phila- 
delphia, with its extensive and varied industries, producing in 
the aggregate over 360,000,000 of dollars worth of manufac- 
tured goods annually, the largest manufacturing city in the 
United States, is a most appropriate place in which to hold a 
great International Exhibition. 

Results of Exhibitions. 

Permit me, in closing, to quote some remarks of Mr. Seward 
upon the value of great Industrial Expositions : 

"From the commencement of the industrial epoch, which 
dates from the London Exhibition of 1851, the profound sig- 
nificance and value of such exhibitions have been realized by 
the people and governments of the civilized nations. Their 
beneficent influences are many and widespread ; they advance 
human knowledge in all directions. Through the universal 
language of the products of labor the artisans of all countries 
hold communication ; ancient prejudices are broken down; na- 
tions are fraternized ; generous rivalries in the peaceful fields 

* Further details concerning this exposition will he found in an interesting 
article hy Prof. C. A. Joy, in the Journal of Applied Chemistry, January, 
1872, from which the above is condensed. 



31 

of industry are excited ; the tendencies to war are lessened, 
and a better understanding between labor and capital is fos- 
tered. It is gratifying to note that these great exhibitions are 
planned and executed in the interests of the mass of the people. 
In this last instance those industries, products, and organiza- 
tions designed to promote the material and moral well-being of 
the people were made prominent, and the underlying, animating 
spirit and impulse of the whole plan were for the advancement, 
prosperity, and happiness of the people of all nations. One of 
the most salutary results is the promotion of an appreciation 
of the true dignity of labor and its paramount claims to con- 
sideration as the basis of national wealth and power. 

" Such exhibitions have become national necessities and du- 
ties, and as such it may be expected that they will be repeated 
again and again hereafter." 

But this is too broad a theme for this occasion. We hope 
that we understand and appreciate the task before us. The 
good work has already begun. Who could not be impressed 
with this who saw last evening in the banquet hall of our hosts 
of the Union league Virginia shaking hands with Connecticut 
and pledging united and harmonious action,, hand to hand and 
heart to heart, in the great work of peace, good will, and civili- 
zation confided to our care. 



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